Reviews tagging Physical abuse

What My Mother and I Don't Talk about: Fifteen Writers Break the Silence, by Michele Filgate

13 reviews

dtierra's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Fatphobia, Gaslighting, Incest, Infidelity, Injury/injury detail, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Adult/minor relationship, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Grief, Pregnancy, Self harm, Bullying, Cancer, Antisemitism, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Classism, and Emotional abuse

kirstym25's review

emotional reflective medium-paced

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Child abuse

catladyjenna1's review

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, and Drug abuse

juliaaaaa's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful reflective

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Drug use, Drug abuse, Rape, Mental illness, and Chronic illness

sjanke2's review against another edition

emotional reflective fast-paced

2.25

 

This collection started strong and waned from there. The ones I enjoyed are the only ones I remember (Alexander Chee and Alexander Chee). I wonder if each contributor got to pick the narrator who would read their piece, as I didn't care for a couple of the voices.

 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Addiction, Toxic relationship, Terminal illness, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide attempt, Alcoholism, Antisemitism, Emotional abuse, Adult/minor relationship, Racial slurs, Grief, Sexual assault, Self harm, Rape, Mental illness, Fatphobia, Death of parent, Physical abuse, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, Cursing, Car accident, and Child abuse

sonjapardee's review against another edition

emotional funny inspiring reflective medium-paced

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Mental illness, Death of parent, Child abuse, Toxic relationship, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, and Pedophilia

mmccombs's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional funny reflective sad medium-paced

4.0

An emotional and insightful read. So many complex thoughts around mothers, motherhood, and what we owe to our mothers in being alive. I liked some essays more than others (Carmen Maria Machado and Brandon Taylor are my standouts again!! They keep doing collections together and it should definitely stay that way). A strong collection and such an intriguing theme binding these all together.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Self harm

Moderate: Suicidal thoughts

dsinocruz's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Gaslighting, Rape, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Pedophilia, Domestic abuse, and Toxic relationship

Moderate: Grief

Minor: Eating disorder, Addiction, Alcoholism, Mental illness, and Alcohol

mrselaineskinner's review

emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad fast-paced

4.0

There are 15 essays in this anthology and I found almost all of them relatable.  The essays are written with a humility, honesty, and self reflection that are staggering. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, and Rape

meemawreads's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring medium-paced

4.0

I hesitated to start 2022 with a post about a downer, but that’s not really what this book is. It contains immense pain - warnings for many mentions of suicidal ideation, substance use, and many kinds of abuse - but it also contains immense healing. Each person who contributed to this collection did hard healing work in order to be able to write about these estrangements and catastrophes. There’s also immense love and forgiveness in them. 
We put mothers on this pedestal… we make motherhood nearly compulsory but then dehumanize mothers so that if they’re not perfectly nurturing and perfectly selfless and perfectly content in motherhood, they’re monsters. I love the care many of these writers took to show understanding that their moms are just people, too. 
I don’t recommend this book generally but specifically: read only if you’re experienced holding strangers’ pain without harm to yourself. Four taters 🥔🥔🥔🥔/🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Suicidal thoughts, and Suicide attempt

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Grief, and Physical abuse